San Marcos Campus Adds Innovative Technology to Focus on Balance

San Marcos Campus Adds Innovative Technology to Focus on Balance, Vestibular Rehabilitation

With a Balance Master and inVision software, students can participate in hands-on learning while also helping local community members with a range of health issues.

Nearly every patient in physical therapy is at risk for balance and vestibular issues, especially those who have Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, or problems with their inner ear. Technology to support neuromuscular rehabilitation for health challenges like these has become increasingly prevalent.

“Technology like the Balance Master and inVision systems allows physical therapists to quantify balance and vestibular deficits and compare the results to normative data. This data is used by the physical therapist to justify a plan of care and provide evidence of patient outcomes at the end of a physical therapy episode of care,” says faculty member Heather David, PT, EdD, MPT, NCS.

To help ensure that students have access to the same technology they are likely to encounter in clinical environments, the San Marcos campus has invested in a NeuroCom Balance Master system and the recently updated inVision software package and training modules.

“It is important for students to gain experience with the latest technology so that they are prepared for real-world situations,” says faculty member Kristen Johnson, PT, EdD, MS, NCS.

Students will have the opportunity to use the new technology with participants from the local community who have a range of health issues they are likely to encounter during their internships and as graduates.

“Through our POINT lab, we work with the medical community and local organizations to bring in participants with different health needs who can benefit from working with students while they gain real-world experience that advances their education,” says faculty member Anna Edwards, PT, DPT, MA, MBA. POINT stands for “Patient Oriented Integrated Neurological Treatment,” and since its creation in 2010, it has attracted dozens of adults with Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and brain injuries and pediatric clients with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other neurological issues to campus.”

Over five weeks under faculty guidance, students work in teams to implement an evaluation, plan of care, interventions, interdisciplinary referrals, and a discharge plan, applying and integrating what they have learned in coursework.

Read more about how our programs transform students into practitioners in Accolades magazine.

 

Faculty member Heather David, PT, EdD, NCS, (left) guides Doctor of Physical Therapy students Thuy Dinh and Ogbomo Osahon as they try out the new Balance Master in class.

 

Faculty member Kristen Johnson, PT, EdD, MS, NCS, (right) encourages Doctor of Physical Therapy student Ogbomo Osahon (center) as he balances on a piece of high-density foam on a force plate with his eyes closed then open to test his posture. DPT student Thuy Dinh is in the foreground.